DiyLightAnimation
Hardware => Lynx MR16 / 16 CH DC Controller => Topic started by: twooly on July 04, 2014,
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Trying to test some new elements this year and was getting some random problems with my mr16. This unit worked great last year without a problem and I just pulled it out of storage to do some testing. I've noticed some of the channels work and some don't and not sure what might be causing it. I haven't tried reflashing/reconfigure yet and will do that but wanted to see if anyone had any other thoughts before I did that.
This unit is configured with a start channel of 33 and below is a listing of what channels work and what ones don't
33 - No
34 - No
35 - Yes
36 - No
37 - No
38 - No
39 - No
40 - Yes
41 - Yes
42 - Yes
43 - No
44 - No
45 - Yes
46 - No
47 - No
48 - Yes
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Are you sure its the MR16, and not the dmx source driving the MR16? Being that it worked fine for you previously, that would suggest to me something other than the MR16 itself.
Would check the obvious stuff on the MR16:
1. connections (realizing, it was solid for you last season)...likely connections to your elements, so the spade lugs.
2. loose chips
3. Rj45s and cable
but i'd first eliminate everything in front of the MR-16, along with the elements you are testing.
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Only difference from the show and my testing is I'm using a USB dmx dongle directly connected to the mr16 vs etherdongle to am active hub to a dmx splitter. I'll try to get it setup like the show to see if that helps. The dmx dongle does work fine with my other sources like an express and a ray 27 channel board
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So that eliminates the dongle as an issue, its as simple a config as it gets.
I'd give the board a good look, as noted above...when you say some channels work and others don't, is it consistent? Or is it intermittent behavior on all channels?
I've got limited experience with the MR-16, no longer have one, so others more familiar with the board will hopefully chime in. Its not a complex board, by any means.
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That's a lot of channels to mysteriously go bad . I would look at the channel configuration and try to reconfigure and/or reflash if everything is good coming out of the dongle
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I agree, Seems like without some major issue happen you would have noticed to be to many failures. I would look elsewhere first also.
RJ
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How is the board, and new elements, being tested?
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk 4
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So more testing. I got my active hub and etherdongle out to test that signal and same results some work and some don't. Its consistent with what channels work and don't. Also tried new cat5 cables same result.
Doing the reflash now
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Sounds like you have assigned the channels wrong in your sequencer. If you are testing RGB then 33 should be Red, 34 Green & 35 Blue. Then repeat you will have one unused channel 48 at the end.
Mike
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Not testing RGB with it yet, just a spotlight I used last year. One channel to operate it
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What are you using to test the channels? Are you using the same item on each channel or do you have 16 different items with one on each channel?
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I'm just using xlights to test the channels.
One item I'm moving on all the channels.
I did a reflash and getting better these are just the channels that don't work now
33
36
37
38
39
44
46
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Xlights would be my choice to do that channel by channel testing.
So if I understand you correctly, you're bringing one channel up at a time, testing the spotlight?
And all 16 channels were in use and definitely working for you last year?
If all you did was store the unit, and then bring it back out, and you have a pretty simple verified test setup, I'd be again giving the board a good look... chips firmly in their sockets, nothing amiss from a connections standpoint that might not have manifested itself previously. I'd be looking there before looking for any kind of actual component failure...
You built the board yourself?
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I would take a close look at the PIC's socket. Did the MR16 get wet or was it subjected to high humidity. This could be a corrosion issue and removing and reinstalling the PIC to reflash it probably had more to do with some of the channels working than reflashing it.
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Correct using xlights one channel at a time with on spotlight I would move channel by channel. I took the board out of the waterproof box it was mounted in and I'll give a look over and post some pics. No humidity since it was stored inside of the house in my office. Thanks guys for the help, I'll report back more that I find.
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Oh and yep I built the board 3 years ago, only used the first three channels so I only can say 33 34 and 35 should all be working.
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Ok, so thats a whole different situation, than what you described, or at least, I think most of us interpreted.
Are you saying you don't really know for sure if the other 13 channels ever worked? Or did you do a full test after you built it and confirm all 16 worked?
If the former, then its a build issue, meaning, you need to go back over the board and verify its built correctly, and as importantly, confirm you've got good clean solder connections.
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Correct not sure if all worked just assumed they all did since the first three were fine. Note the first channel now doesn't work and it did before. I'll be taking it out tonight to look more.
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yeah the board wasn't happy, took it out of the case it was mounted in to look at it closer and now I can't get it to power up. Ug time to take a closer look at it. Maybe the moving around finally knocked something loose after 2 years of being ok.
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So I replaced the 7805 and it came back to life, also did a touch up on all the joints to make sure. Everything is working great with it now, all channels work.
Thanks everyone for the help.
--Todd
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A bad 7805 would not have caused you an intermittent issue, the solder connection touch-up is likely what resolved your original issue with only some of the channels working. Hard to say what caused the 7805 to go bad..or, possibly you had a cold solder joint on the regulator that was resolved with the replacement.
More importantly, glad to hear you got it going.
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I tested the 7805 after I wasn't getting power, wasn't getting the readings you should off of it. Yeah I know that wasn't related just ended up having two problems then.
The solder along the pic didn't look the best so I'm betting once I touched those up that fixed my initial problem
Thank you
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Glad you got it all working! :)